✨Fazit: Glitter, Taylor Swift, $20M Growth Playbook

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Read time: 4 mins 15 seconds

In late 2023, Nina and Aliett were burning through their last dollars, working on a skincare patch business barely hitting $10K a month. 

No salaries. No runway. Just one final swing at the plate.                  

Then, in a moment that was either genius or desperation (probably both), they pivoted to glitter freckle makeup patches… and figured out a way to get them on Taylor Swift’s face, sparking a cultural movement + making $1M in 48 hours 🤯.           

Let's dive into the messy, unfiltered truth behind Fazit’s meteoric rise, one of beauty's most fascinating growth stories.

Let’s dive in 👇.

Quick plug, but a good one:

Huge shoutout to my friends at Pixel Theory, the growth agency who helped turn Fazit from a near-bankrupt skincare brand into a glitter-freckle-fueled rocket ship.

These folks don’t just run paid ads. They build your whole growth machine: data infra, analytics, creative testing systems, and actual bangers of video ads. They have helped generate ~$1B in revenue for clients like Masa Chips, Mad Rabbit, and Macro. Yeah, they’re kinda good at this.

I convinced the founder Graham Welter — a consumer OG with 10+ years of experience — to offer free 1:1 growth consultations for startups in our community.

But wait… there’s more. On the call, he’ll also share proven growth templates, like a daily P&L tracker, creative testing framework, and cohort analysis template, all completely free.

⚠️ It’s only for the next 7 days. And only for the first 10 people. So if you're stuck on growth, this is your cheat code. 

Fazit’s genesis

The Fazit story began in 2020, when Nina LaBruna approached Aliett Buttelman with an idea to start a skin patch company.

Nina wasn’t new to the beauty space as she had launched a skincare line with her physician mother from her college dorm room. Aliett, meanwhile, ran a D2C brand consultancy called Alouet, which had helped brands land placements in Nordstrom and Anthropologie.

After pooling together over $70K from their personal savings, angel investors, and a pitch competition in St. Louis, Nina and Aliett launched Fazit: a skincare patch designed to treat ingrown hairs and pimples.

They gained impressive early traction—30M views on TikTok and interest from retailers like Urban Outfitters.

But despite the buzz, revenue stalled at <$10K a month. Cash was burning fast, and the founders weren’t taking salaries.

After raising a small bridge round to stay afloat, they knew they had just one last swing before the game was over.

It’s all or nothing.

All In On Glitter Patch Product

1/ The Product Pivot: From Skincare to Sparkle

The turning point came in late 2023. 

Nina noticed that many girls were adding glitter and sparkle to their makeup routines. With Coachella season approaching, she had an idea for a new product: glitter freckle patch. It felt like their best shot at a last-chance swing.

Instead of waiting for full production, they ordered samples from their existing manufacturers and sent them to friends heading to Coachella to gather quick feedback.

The response was overwhelming. Friends loved the product so much that they started posting about it on TikTok, racking up over 20M views in days 🔥. 

This time, the energy felt different. They might be onto something real… 

2/ Laying the foundation

But having a new product wasn’t enough. They needed a growth engine that could scale.

To get more growth help, they joined Pixel Theory’s growth incubator, where founder Graham Welter rolled up his sleeves and worked directly with them to turn early signals into real momentum. 

First up: prove they could sell to cold audiences. 

That meant running paid ads, testing creatives fast, and seeing if they could acquire customers profitably—even at a small scale.

To pull it off, they built a lean but powerful stack*:

• Custom Daily P&L Dashboard: Built to track key metrics like nCAC, MER, ROAS by cohort, and overall marketing efficiency in real time

• Elevar: For pixel and server-side tracking management, ensuring clean attribution

• Creative Engine: A structured process of weekly briefs (SKU-named & performance tracked), controlled testing with clear variables, systematic iteration based on performance data, and scaling only proven creative winners

• Reporting & Analysis Tools: Custom dashboards and cohort analysis tools to visualize outcomes across time, channel, and SKU

With the foundation in place, it was time to make some real noise.

*Want to get all those frameworks and templates used by Fazit for FREE? Book a consultation with Graham here.

Fazit’s Growth Playbook

1/ Greater than life strategy (offline + online synergy)

Here's where it gets juicy. 

Instead of just running social ads like everyone else, Graham and Aliett launched what they called a “Greater Than Life” campaign. 

It was designed to make the brand feel way bigger than it actually was by blending online hype with strategic offline moments. 

(a) Sorority Partnerships: The Campus Takeover

The team recognized that college campuses were hotbeds for beauty trends and team spirit. Rather than trying to reach this audience purely through digital channels, they went straight to the source: sorority houses.

They methodically mapped out the biggest sororities across key campuses. Created a strategic visitation schedule aligned with college football game days. 

The approach was simple: show up, give out free glitter patches, and teach sorority members how to apply them in team colors.

They weren't just giving away products. They were collecting content. 

Every application, every reaction, every group photo became assets for their marketing machine.

The real magic happened next. 

They took this content and ran hyper-targeted ads to other campuses, creating the perception that "everyone" at college football games was wearing Fazit patches & manufacturing FOMO at scale.

(b) Box Truck Stunts: The Illusion of Omnipresence

Perhaps their boldest move was the strategic deployment of branded box trucks. 

They wrapped box trucks in eye-catching Fazit branding and strategically parked them in high-visibility locations, like in front of CVS stores where they had inventory, in trendy neighborhoods, and of course, Times Square.

They turned each location into a photo shoot, capturing images that made it appear as though Fazit had invested millions in an out-of-home campaign. These images then became content for social media and ads, creating the perception of a massive brand presence.

For the cost of renting a truck and a photography team for a day, they created the impression of a multi-million dollar advertising campaign. 

(c) Influencer Events: Trading Application for Amplification

When Alex Cooper of the wildly popular "Call Her Daddy" podcast was planning her birthday party and reached out to purchase some glitter patches, the Fazit team saw an opportunity. 

Instead of charging them for the glitter patch product, they negotiated a deal where they would be on-site to apply glitter patches to guests for FREE.

This gave them direct access to dozens of influencers in a single night, each of whom would be photographed extensively. Every application became content, and every social post from the event featuring their product became free advertising to millions of followers.

Each of these ‘greater than life’ tactics created a powerful feedback loop: 

offline activation at cultural events → content capture → online amplification → greater perceived brand presence → more offline opportunities. With relatively modest spending, they created the impression of a brand that was everywhere, fueling organic growth through perceived popularity.

2/ The Taylor Swift Moment: When Lightning Strikes

Toward the end of 2024, the ultimate cultural moment arrived. 

📸 Taylor Swift was photographed wearing Fazit glitter patches at a Kansas City Chiefs game.

It was strategic.

The team knew sending products to Taylor Swift’s agent was a long shot (most never make it to the artist). So they got scrappy. They figured makeup artists, who love free stuff, might be a better entry point.

Aliett reached out directly to Taylor’s agency and makeup artist. But she didn’t stop there. She also DMed and emailed the wives of Chiefs players to get the product circulating in Taylor’s orbit.

IT WORKED!!!

When Aliett found out on IG that Taylor Swift showed up to a Chiefs game wearing their glitter freckles, she broke down in tears. The moment was raw, emotional, and captured on TikTok, a founder seeing her product on one of the most famous faces in the world. That authenticity really hit on socials and got over 8.9M views on TikTok alone.

The Fazit team didn’t sleep that night. They went into overdrive, making sure media outlets were tagging the product correctly and locking in interviews with CBS and NBC.

They made seven figures in just 8 hours.

When Aliett later attended a Taylor Swift concert, she discovered something incredible: approximately one-third of the women there were wearing Fazit glitter freckles 🤯. 

Their product became part of the Taylor Swift fan culture.

This unexpected celebrity endorsement unlocked Fazit's crossover into the sports space. 

Recognizing the opportunity to blend beauty with sports fandom, they built a campaign around the Super Bowl with Cheers Cash that gamified shopping behavior for sports fans:

Spend $20+ on Fazit products, and if your team wins, you get the same value back in store credits.

The campaign crushed expectations, driving a 352% sales lift. It was the moment sport and beauty collided—and Fazit owned it.

Fazit today

Fazit’s growth has been incredible, transforming from a struggling startup near bankruptcy to a cultural phenomenon in just over a year. 

Their distribution strategy has also evolved: D2C has become their innovation lab and brand-building tool, while retail partnerships with Urban Outfitters, Target, and CVS drive massive revenue. In many stores, Fazit products are top 1-2 sellers in the beauty category.

They are on track to do $20M+ in retail revenue for 2025 after forming a partnership with E.L.F and securing retail placements at CVS, Target, Aerie, and many more.

The Playbook: 5 Lessons From Fazit's Journey

1. One pivot can change everything: When your product isn't working, don't double down. Look for adjacent opportunities using your existing assets.

2. Create the perception of scale before you have it: Don't try to be everywhere; be strategic about where you show up, then amplify those appearances to create the impression of scale.

3. Build systems before you need them: The right tracking, creative testing, and analysis infrastructure can help you manage and CREATE growth.

4. Turn cultural moments into sustainable growth: Look at viral moments not as temporary traffic spikes, but as strategic inflection points that can open entirely new avenues.

5. Blend offline and online for maximum impact: The most powerful strategies create virtuous cycles between online and offline touchpoints.

P.S. Want to enjoy that rocketship growth like Fazit? This is your sign to go steal Graham’s brain while it’s free. Only 10 spots. Next 7 days only. Tick Tock.

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See you next Tuesday,

Leo

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